The Rollercoaster Ride Continues

Last week was a pretty crappy week for us Olivers. First of all, our dog Ella got into a little brawl and broke her upper jaw. The vet told us there wasn't a lot that could be done for it other than doggie dental surgery, to the tune of $1000-$2000. But the vet assured us that sometimes its possible for the jaw to set correctly on its own and no surgery would be needed. Then we got a call from our CPA - on a Saturday - and were informed that we owed the government a large chunk of change, which came as quite a surprise. A few days later I went to get my diamond earrings out of my jewelry box and I could only find one of them. I turned it inside out twice and each time I only came back with one earring. Then on Tuesday came the really devastating news. My OBGYN personally called us at home at 6:30 pm to tell us that our Quad Test results came back abnormal, specifically for spina bifida and the Down syndrome was slightly elevated too. Andrew and I were floored! I couldn't understand how our baby could have SB since I'd taken my prenatal vitamins religiously.

We set up an appointment for an advanced ultrasound but had to wait until Thursday to get in to be seen. By the time Thursday rolled around, we were nervous wrecks. The u/s tech started doing her thing and looking at all physical aspects of the baby - the heart looked good, so did the liver, kidneys, brain, spine, legs, arms, stomach and lip palate. She said she didn't see anything really out of the ordinary but that the baby was measuring a little small - closer to 15 1/2 to 16 weeks instead of 17 weeks. Then the doctor came in and verified that it definitely was not spina bifida or another neural tube defect - but - that he felt something was wrong. My blood test showed high AFP levels and the u/s showed a small nasal bone and that the baby's growth was behind schedule. He imagined it might be Down syndrome because the small nasal bone occurs frequently with Down syndrome. By this time, I was bawling because this was not at all what I had expected to hear. Immediately after the u/s, we went to see the genetic counselor and I underwent an amniocentesis, partial results of which wouldn't come in until Monday, so we had to wait four days to hear back from the doctor.

In the meantime, we took Ella to get her jaw looked at and the vet thought it looked great and that no surgery would be needed. Next was that we found out Andrew was getting a bonus at work which was for more than the tax amount we owed. Then Andrew decided to look for my diamond earring and he noticed that there was a hidden panel that covered the hinges of the jewelry box and sure enough there was my lost earring. So it seemed that everything sucky that had happened (minus all the baby stuff) had worked out great. Something about that gave us hope that maybe everything would work out for our baby too.

This morning we got the phone call that the preliminary amnio results were in and that there was no Down syndrome, Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18, which was the best possible news we could have gotten. Hallelujah! Also, it turns out that the high AFP levels probably are due to the spotting and bleeding I experienced during the first trimester. And the small nasal bone apparently just means that our baby may have a cute little button nose! So the only mystery that remains is why the baby's growth is a little behind. We've been given lots of possibilities - infection, virus, something wrong with the placenta or umbilical cord - and we'll have more answers when the full amnio results come in next week. I'm crossing my fingers it's just that my dates are a little off and I'm not quite as far along in my pregnancy as I thought. Anyway, right now Andrew and I feel so much better than we did yesterday and we feel cautiously optimistic and hopeful for our baby's future. Any kind thoughts, finger crossing, and prayers for us are always appreciated!

Oh and by the way, it's a girl!